Kenya is among countries whose citizens will not be allowed to enter European Union countries as the block prepares to reopen its external border on Wednesday.
Consequently, Kenyans wishing to travel to the EU will have to wait longer.
The EU has released two lists, one for those that will be accepted, and one for those who will not.
This is after the bloc failed to agree on a common list of the countries that would be banned from entering the block upon the border reopening.
Countries like the United States, Brazil and Russia have also been excluded from the list.
Only Uganda and Rwanda have been listed among the East African Countries.
According to Euronews, EU officials failed to agree on a common list of the countries that would definitely be banned from entering the block upon the border reopening but managed to create a list of the countries with a better epidemiological situation, the citizens of which will be able to enter Europe by the end of next week.
The news outlet reported that ambassadors from the 27 EU members convened from Friday afternoon to establish criteria for granting quarantine-free access from next Wednesday.
“A redrawn text of 10-20 countries was put to them, but many said they needed to consult first with their governments, diplomats said,” the outlet reported.
According to the article, discussions continued overnight, with the EU countries giving informal replies by Saturday evening.
So far in a draft list published, citizens of 54 world countries will benefit from the reopening of the European Union external borders.
“The European Union has an internal process to determine from which countries it would be safe to accept travellers,” EU Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said last Thursday, adding that its decisions are “based on health criteria.”
On June 11, the Commission presented its recommendation on the reopening of internal Schengen borders on June 15, so that Europeans can travel within the borderless area freely, just as they did pre-pandemic.
It is said the countries however managed to create a list of the countries with a better epidemiological situation, the citizens of which will be able to enter Europe by the end of next week.
Countries that have been barred will only be able to enter the bloc at a later date when the epidemiological situation in these countries improves.
EU officials have been quick to point out that decisions on who can and cannot enter the bloc are not political, but based on science that allows member states to keep their citizens safe.
On Monday, Kenya’s Covid-19 cases climbed to 6,190 as the global count surpassed the 10 million mark.
